1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the placement and fixation of a knee ligament replacement in tunnels formed in a longitudinal direction through the tibia and femur bones. The method of the present invention relates more particularly, but not entirely, to a method of securing the ligament replacement in a reliable manner that facilitates biological healing of replacement material into the bone.
2. Description of Related Art
When a ligament such as the anterior cruciate ligament (hereinafter “ACL”) or posterior cruciate ligament (hereinafter “PCL”) is torn or damaged, a replacement ligament may be used to reconstruct the natural ligament. A variety of biologic and synthetic materials have been developed for this purpose. In order to install the replacement ligament, tunnels may be drilled in a longitudinal fashion into the “footprints” of the native ligament positions to replicate the function of the natural ligament. Such techniques are well known and are in common domain.
Various methods and devices have been devised for the purpose of both placing and securing a ligament replacement into bone depending on the specific characteristics of the material. E. Marlowe Goble first devised a drill guide that would direct a drill point transversely to a bone tunnel drilled longitudinally into a knee bone. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,032. Thereafter, a means was devised for securing a soft ligament replacement into the femur by passing the tendons over a pin placed transversely across the femoral tunnel. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,266,075 and 5,393,302. Goble and Jerry L. Lower then designed a method and implant for securing a bone plug in the tunnel. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,350,380 and 5,397,356 and 5,562,671. Other inventors such as Thomas Rosenberg, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,520, have used soft tissues and transverse devices to secure ligament grafts into the femur. Replacement ligaments can also be secured with “interference” bone screws such as described by Jerald Bowman et al., see U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,270, or a whole combination of sutures tied to posts, staple type devices, and screw plates.
Ultimately, rounded cannulated implants were developed that allowed for a soft ligament implant to be first captured by a wire, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,604 (Jeffery Whelan), and brought in the tunnel of the femur and then secured by passing the cannulated implant along the path of the wire, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,651 (E. Marlowe Goble), thus securing the graft.
The prior art does not address certain challenges in the field discussed above. The prior art is thus characterized by several disadvantages that are addressed by the present invention. The present invention minimizes, and in some aspects eliminates, certain disadvantages and problems, by utilizing the methods and structural features described herein.